When researching a topic, one often gathers information from a variety of sources. All work that includes someone else’s thoughts or ideas should be properly cited. Whenever you quote , paraphrase or summarize from another source, you must give the author or artist credit. Also cite any data, statistics or creative works. The one exception is common knowledge. Common knowledge is information that you could find in any number of general sources.
Avoiding Plagiarism
If you don't acknowledge the contributions that others in presenting your research , you are guilty of plagiarism, a serious academic offence.
Below are examples of plagiarism
- Failing to cite quotations or borrowed work
- Failing to use quotation marks to enclose someone's exact words
- Failing to put summaries and paraphrases in your own words
At Abington High School we use the Modern Language Association (MLA) format for citations. We have many resources in the Library Media Center to help you with research and documentation. I strongly recommend using a citation generator like EasyBib or Noodletools.